'Double Dragon' by way of the L.A. riots

State of Emergency\nRating: M for Mature\nFor: Playstation 2\nBy: Rockstar Games\nThe next time people decide to start breaking store windows, looting products and getting the eventual beat down from the Los Angeles police, politicians will point their fingers at a new scapegoat. That blame will be put on Rockstar Games' new riot game "State of Emergency." \nIn the past, Rockstar created kill-everyone-on-screen hits such as "Grand Theft Auto 3" and "Max Payne." Now they are back corrupting the minds of gamers everywhere with a "punch, kick and shoot your way through each level" game reminiscent of "Final Fight" and "Double Dragon."\nYou play as of one of the "Freedom Fighters," an organization battling the evil "Corporation." You have to fight your way through mobs of rioters killing corporate officials, protecting your own and chopping up rival gang members. This is by no means a kid's game, and the box has a "Check ID" sticker to make sure the purchaser is 18. It is in fact one of the goriest games created, with heads rolling around the streets and gallons of blood being spilled. \nNow everyone will automatically compare this to "Grand Theft Auto 3," possibly one of the best games ever created, but I will not do that because the games are completely different. I will say that if your favorite part of "GTA3" is just running around shooting helpless civilians, you will love this game. It boasts an amazing 250 people on screen looting the four levels, including the mall and China Town. \nAnd you can play either the arcade shoot-as-many-people/ blow-up-as-much-as-possible Chaos mode, or go for the story with Revolution. Chaos is more fun, but Revolution includes missions so this is the area where most of the time will be spent. The action is non-stop as you run through levels killing all foes in your path, but some of the missions get redundant and incredibly difficult. The majority deal with killing a top officer and stealing the documents he has, or escorting and protecting one of the other Freedom Fighters from gunfire. These are the difficult missions because your fellow Fighters are pansies and die at one or two whacks from a billy club. This is the only gripe I have with the game. \nIf you like running around kicking everyone's ass, then this game is for you, especially if you buy a lot of games. If you're the type a only likes to buy a game every so often, and have to have the best, you should probably spend a week playing a rental of it before throwing down the cash. \n

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